News
Cooper named best flight instructor in Canada
Nov. 26, 2014, Vancouver - Sky Wings Aviation Academy’s Sherry Cooper is Canada’s best flight instructor bar none. Last week in Vancouver she received the David Charles Abramson Memorial (DCAM) Flight Instructor Safety Award.
November 26, 2014 By The Innisfall Province
Awarded in honour of the late David Charles Abramson, the award recognizes at the highest national level the role flight training specialists play in making the business of flying safer.
“I am very excited to be chosen as this year’s recipient of the Abramson award,” said Cooper, who is the co-owner of Springbrook’s Sky Wings Aviation. “It is a validation of my life in aviation, my philosophy of education and is easily the pinnacle of my career.”
In addition to the awards ceremony in Vancouver, Cooper will also be in attendance in Ottawa during the spring to see her name on the trophy, which is held in the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum.
As a testament to her dedication to the aviation education industry, Cooper has logged more than 15,000 hours of flight time in single-engine, multi-engine, complex single, tail wheel and technically advanced aircraft.
As a flight instructor, she has 13,000 hours of instruction time and has personally mentored more than 2,000 pilots, many of whom have gone on to become flight instructors as well. She has instructed at Red Deer College in the aviation program as well as representing the industry in regional affairs.
“I believe being a flight instructor embodies each of us taking responsibility and recognizing that being effective and successful is about commitment,” wrote Cooper in a letter to the DCAM. “I am most successful when a student becomes their own instructor. Living and teaching a safety culture takes perseverance and dedication to accepting nothing less than our best.”
Along with winning the DCAM award, Cooper will also receive a crystal eagle to display at Sky Wings, a special aviation watch, scholarships to national training events and national recognition in front of her peers.
“Having being part of the aviation industry since 1988, it’s great to be recognized for my efforts to become the best instructor I can be,” said Cooper. “With worldwide demand for pilots rising, this will only increase the profile of flight instruction in Central Alberta and attract more of an international student base.”
Cooper, in addition to her career at Sky Wings Aviation, is also a public school trustee with the Chinook’s Edge School Division, co-chair of the Red Deer College Affair of the Arts, and president of the Red Deer Airshow Association, in addition to being part of other boards and committees. She is married to Penhold mayor Dennis Cooper.
